Looking for a sub $100 saddle for my road bike that's gonna take care of my one remaining jewel ! I am thinking that years of enduring hard bike seats that have put pressure on my undercarriage area has led to me losing half of my family jewels to cancer late last year. So I'm back on the bike and am really noticing the pressure on my pelvic floor and getting pins and needles in my feet after only 30km ( I remember this was happening before ) , so Ive been looking into Selle SMP seats , but on a budget, theres three types available at Cell bikes under $100 the TRK , Hybrid and Extra. I cant find much info besides the standard company guff , so does anyone have info on these three saddles and which one would suit a road rider more ??

I have 2 of the Extra model. It is the most comfortable saddle I have yet used by a long shot, as I much prefer pressure towards the middle than right on my cheek bones (which is what I have found with saddles that have a flat profile). That said, the shape is not quite ideal, as so far I have not found the sweet spot to have it comfortable when riding upright on the hoods, AND when pushing hard in the drops. The closest compromise I've achieved has me comfortable when more upright, but developing numbness after a while hunched over in the drops. Still good enough for me to do up to 260k at a time though.

Given you say your pain is from the 'gentleman's area', rather than your backside, I would suggest maybe a flatter saddle would be the way to go? While the SMP does have a huge cutout in the middle, it still tends to put more pressure through the middle (though not as badly as, for example, a Selle Royal Turbo, that almost crippled me).

I have had recent issues down there, tried SMP didnt work for me. Went to Adamo, best I have felt on a bike for years. THe SMP put me in the wrong position and put more pressure on my nuts than my old rolls.

The trick with the SMP apparently is to have your pelvis tilted up so to speak. It's apparently the way you're supposed to ride anyway (disclaimer - or so my physio told me). I started off with an extra to see if I liked the shape. I did, but the massive amount of padding made the seat uncomfortable for me over longer rides. I now have a composit and am very happy with it.

I have my old track frame that I'm putting back together as a street fixed gear/SS and I have thoughts of using it for TT events. I'm going to search out an Adamo for that one to give them a try. They have many rave reviews and suit the TT position much better.

A misadjustment of a few degrees of angle, or fore/aft position will do this. The SMPs have a curved top so it's not always obvious from looking where the ideal level position is. I found I have to do the fine adjustments by sitting on it for the feel, not looking at it.

+1 to the Selle SMP TRK. I never finish a ride feeling numb - unlike on my old saddle which felt like it was mainly designed to cut off blood flow from the legs in case of snakebite.

The more expensive Selle SMP models in the same width have the same shape, but are made of leather/titanium/carbon, etc. So it's well worth the <$100 price level to try them out.

I had my right one removed due to testicular cancer in early 2001. If you lost one of yours late last year then there isn't a huge amount you can do apart from still take things a bit gently as i found it took more than 6 months before i could manage more than an hour or two without setting off some discomfort. After 12 months i could manage a 3 or 4 hour without any problems at all. I tend to think that a lot of my early discomfort was due to how i sat on the saddle as i'd lost the sense of balance that i'd had on a bike since i was a child and it took me a couple of years too be able to ride no handed without leaning strongly to the left to counterbalance what had been chopped off in the way that people who suffer sudden hearing loss in one ear lose their sense of balance.

Take things carefully, let what was quite a traumatic injury heal properly and given time the only discomfort you are likely to have is when your brian sets off a pain receptor for no reason and you are trying to scratch an itch or pain in something that is no longer there.

I was browsing a LBS waiting to collect my bike from a warranty repair. The TRK is definetly as wide as the horrible that originally came with that bike & it was fat the whole length. The extra looked a much more likely candidate. I have no idea what the difference between the extra & the hybrid is, apart from $10. Curiously both Cell & velogear have them $10 different, but swap the order

Who is online

About the Australian Cycling Forums

The largest cycling discussion forum in Australia for all things bike; from new riders to seasoned bike nuts, the Australian Cycling Forums are a welcoming community where you can ask questions and talk about the type of bikes and cycling topics you like.